Allie Burns - The Lido Girls

‘Yes but that’s not exercise as I know it… Miss Stack, in my view it’s bordering on artistic poppycock.’

She saw Prunella’s eyes widen.

‘What she means to say is…’

‘It’s all right.’ Prunella held up a hand. ‘We come from different worlds. And we’ve heard worse, much worse. Our methods are based on exercises used in India for many hundreds of years. What’s more, the number of women here today means more to us than the support of the Board of Education. Now, if you think you’re feeling quite well,’ she said to Delphi, ‘perhaps you and your friend wouldn’t mind…’

Keen to comply with Prunella’s request, and mindful that she’d spoiled what should have been Delphi’s moment to create a good impression, Natalie rushed to the door and opened it while looking behind for Delphi to follow, and in doing so she collided with the chest of a man in the corridor.

‘Steady on, Natty!’ The man held her in his arms. It took her a moment to realise it was Delphi’s brother, Jack, come to take them home. ‘Knight in shining armour at your service.’ He winked.

She pulled herself free, stepping back to take him in. This was the first time she’d seen him since he’d returned from living in America, and what a difference those seven years had made. His hair – more of a white blond than she’d remembered – flopped forwards over the side of his forehead and lightly fringed his lively eyes. She appeared to be frozen to the spot by the blue of them.

‘Hello, Jack,’ Delphi said with a sigh. ‘Are you here to take Cinderella back to her scullery?’

‘Keep the jumper.’ Prunella addressed Delphi, and then as Natalie reached the door, she said, ‘Discipline or not, we run the League on good intentions and a rather frayed shoestring. In regards to the things you’ve heard, I’d be grateful if you could quash any rumours you hear about us profiteering. We actually barely turn a profit at all.’

They walked down the corridor shrouded in an uncomfortable silence, Jack looking from one of them to the other as if trying to guess who would speak first.

‘Mother’s snake venom didn’t work then?’ he tried a joke, a reference to Mrs Mulberry’s attempt at finding a cure for Delphi’s illness with a tonic she had purchased from the reptile curator at London Zoo. Neither of them found it funny.

‘That was just the foot up my career needed,’ Delphi said eventually, once they were far enough away to be out of earshot. ‘I can’t possibly apply for a place on their instructor training course now.’

‘I’ll put it right,’ Natalie called after her as Delphi stomped on ahead and then slowed again as her tiredness caught a hold of her.

‘And how will you do that, exactly?’ Delphi shook her head in exasperation and took Jack’s arm to steady her.

Natalie had no idea, but she was going to have to think of something.

Chapter Two

The swallow dive

The diver arches her back and holds her arms out from her sides until she is close to the water.

‘It took me a moment to recognise you back there,’ Jack told her as they continued in darkness down another tree-tunnelled Kentish lane. They’d dropped Delphi – still angry – safely back home, taking her straight up to her room to avoid her parents and their guests in the drawing room. Now for this final leg it was just the two of them.

She thought about it for a moment.

‘What do you mean?’ She caught a glimpse of Woodham’s motor repair yard. They weren’t far from the college now.

‘You didn’t look how I remembered, I suppose. You looked like one of those women you were with, actually. You both did.’

‘I’m really not a part of that set.’

And nor is that likely to ever happen. Artistic poppycock! What a thing to say.

‘Your hair looks different, you’re wearing make-up, but actually…’ he nodded his head ‘…yes, that’s it. I think it was the shorts that threw me.’

She supposed she did take more care over her appearance these days.

‘What I’m really saying is that I had no idea you had such great legs.’

He laughed as he said it and lifted an arm from the steering wheel to defend himself from the blow she launched at his head. America had done nothing to quell his confidence, or his flirting.

‘And what about me?’

‘What about you?’ She turned her head away from him to feel the heat on her cheeks with the back of her hand.

‘Did you recognise me?’ he asked.

‘Of course. You haven’t changed a bit.’

‘Oh.’ He sounded disappointed and she wished she’d told him the truth – that she’d been struck by how handsome he looked, and how his shoulders had filled out, and his eyes, well he’d always had those eyes. But she didn’t trust how those words would sound coming from her mouth.

‘Delphi told me about your girl,’ she said instead. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Oh that.’ He shrugged. With no warning he pulled the steering wheel to the left, fast. She held on to the side of her seat as they took the bend far too quickly and watched the intense darkness through the windscreen for oncoming lights. ‘Mother says I rushed in.’ With a subtle twitch of her head she looked at his face. His jaw was set. ‘But she’s happy now of course. She’s got her boy home.’ She held on to her seat again as this time he forced the car to lurch to the right.

‘Do you think your mother will let Delphi train as an instructor?’

He shrugged. ‘You’re closest to her and you’ve seen how controlling Mother is. I think someone needs to be honest with my sister about her prospects.’

‘You think that should be me?’

‘Well the two of you discuss everything, don’t you? I’ve seen the letters arriving since I’ve been back. What do the two of you find to say?’

‘All sorts. Education, fitness, new teaching methods, female emancipation in sport, what is happening around the world… The thing is, Jack, she has a brilliant mind, and she can’t stay hidden at home her whole life. She needs to be allowed to work around her illness.’

‘Mother always thought Delphi was a bad influence on you before she got sent down from the college. Perhaps they had it the wrong way around.’

Had Delphi told him how Natalie had refused the idea of them sharing a flat together? Even Mrs Mulberry had hinted that she might approve of it. She trusted Natalie with her daughter it seemed. But even though Delphi had sulked, she hadn’t been swayed. Lots of women did share a home together these days, but she couldn’t be certain that she’d be comfortable as one of them.

‘We’re friends, friends with similar interests – that’s all.’ She hated to think their friendship had been subject to dissection and speculation, that they stood out simply because they understood one another. Her cheeks were hot once more.

‘It’s all right. I’m not prying.’ Jack held up his hand. ‘For what it’s worth, I agree. Delphi needs her own life and I’m working on something actually; let’s call it Jack’s escape plan.’ He brushed his lips to zip them together.

‘Are you still dreaming of becoming an Olympic diver?’ she asked.

‘Always,’ he said, ‘always.’

*

It had been raining in Kent. The air was damp and chilled for so close to May. Jack slid a packet of Navy Cut cigarettes from his back pocket. He offered one to Natalie – she shook her head – and then he slotted one between his teeth and lit it, his spare hand slouched in his baggy trouser pocket. Then came the sweet tobacco as it burnt in the night air and drifted away.

She removed her own bag from the boot, thanked him for driving her back. He took her by surprise; moving in to embrace her, his hands spread on her back, and she closed her eyes for a second or two before she jerked away and pulled herself free.